Anyone who has wasted an hour of his or her life watching the TLC reality show Toddlers & Tiaras — or, God forbid, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo — knows that the world of child beauty pageants is a sort of spray-tanned parallel universe wherein little girls parade across stages to win their mothers a vicarious sense of approval. Contestants are plastered with makeup, outfitted with “flippers” (false teeth to cover up gaps from lost baby teeth — a pesky inconvenience of childhood for the pageant mom) and taught how to “shake that booty” as any good twerking-Miley-Cyrus-in-training should know. I know all of this, of course, because I have wasted far too many hours watching pageant-related reality shows on TLC — an admission for which I feel enormous shame.

An officially secular state, and the model for Quebec’s hotly contested proposed values charter, France banned face cover in public altogether two years ago, having already banned the hijab and other ostentatious religious symbols years before.

France has become the bellwether once again on another female self-presentation issue. On Tuesday, by 197 to 146, in an amendment to a law on women’s rights, France’s Senate voted to ban beauty pageants for children on the grounds that it represents the too-early sexualisation of children.

Anyone entering a child in such a competition may face up to two years in prison and $41,000 in fines.

These shows are successful for the same reason that the opposing lanes next to traffic collisions are always so slow: people can’t help but take a look. It’s fascinating, bizarre — and yes, sometimes disturbing — to watch kids who look like painted dolls compete in swimsuit competitions for five-year-olds. And yet, the industry doesn’t need a television audience to be successful, raking in an estimated $5-billion annually in the U.S. alone. Kiddie beauty pageants are hosted throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and beyond, though the French pageant scene may soon be scratched from that venerable list.

Indeed, the Senate in France passed a bill Tuesday that would ban beauty pageants for children under 16. If the bill becomes law, an individual found to be running such pageants could face up to two years in prison and a $41,000 fine. According to the French legislators, the ban on child beauty pageants is being proposed as a measure to prevent the “hyper-sexualization” of young girls.

“With mini-Miss competitions and other demonstrations,” said conservative lawmaker Chantal Jouanno, “we are fixing the projectors on [young girls’] physical appearance. I have a hard time seeing how these competitions are in the greater interest of the child.”

Ms. Jouanno has a point. Standing with “pretty feet” and falsies probably won’t offer these girls a competitive edge if they choose to apply to École Polytechnique 12 years down the road. And while one might argue that these pageants nurture public speaking skills and competitive grace, there are plenty of extracurricular activities that also do so without offering trophies for “Best Smile.”

But before we declare French Parliamentarians the saviours of over-sexed first-graders, we should consider what, exactly, is being banned. Will it still be legal for French moms to spray-tan their daughters and parade them across stages, just as long as they do it under the guise of “Personality Competitions”? Can Parisian shops still sell padded training bras and makeup kits geared to elementary school girls? What about talent shows, dance competitions and tween modelling shoots? Are those still OK?

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It’s clear that the Senate is trying to send a message: “We do not approve of parents dressing up their daughters like club-going 20-somethings.” From a moral standpoint, many will agree. But banning the symptom does not change the mindset — and what’s worse, it usurps parental responsibility and ascribes it to the state. A similar attitude has been adopted in Britain, where Prime Minister David Cameron has announced new default porn filters to protect the nation’s youth from lewd images online. Why should the government decide what is wrong and what is right for our children?

One of the few things worse than a network of beauty pageants for six-year-olds is a network of underground beauty pageants for six-year-olds

Many will contend that French girls — and indeed, all girls — who are subjected to such pageants need protection from the state, and if that means a little government tinkering with their parents’ freedoms, so be it. But try as it might, government can’t legislate good parenting. These girls will grow up in the same homes with the same parents and likely, the same emphasis on physical appearance. And what’s more, one of the few things worse than a network of beauty pageants for six-year-olds is a network of underground beauty pageants for six-year-olds. These parents will find other means.

Government should not decide how parents raise their kids, even if some parents seem to make poor choices. It’s a hazard of a free society. While government should and must step in when parents subject their children to unquestionable physical or mental abuse, the effect of pageant participation is still quite vague, despite some studies that show girls suffer with body image issues related to such competitions (but what girls — pageant contestants or not — don’t suffer with body image issues?). I would love to see an end to some of the more exploitative child pageants (even if it means the cancellation of some of my most beloved guilty-pleasure television shows), but banning them won’t change parents’ attitudes any more than the countless criticisms constantly floated on mainstream media and online. The pageants will march on.

In the wake of a Grammy Awards ceremony that disappointed many, from Kanye West to the masses on Twitter lamenting the state of pop music, a historical perspective is key. Few are better poised to offer one than Andy Kim.